DISTANCE
     LEARNING
     PROGRAM

AN INTRODUCTION TO DHARMA STUDY

This course presents advice given by Sogyal Rinpoche and Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche on the importance of study and on how to study the Dharma. It features such topics as obstacles and challenges to study, the three wisdom tools and especially the practice of contemplation.

PREREQUISITES AND LEVEL OF THIS COURSE

• Completion of "The Way to Inner Peace and Contentment" course
• An established meditation practice.

THE PRINCIPAL FOCUSES OF STUDY

During this course students will have the opportunity to:

• Examine their motivation for studying the teachings

• Deepen their understanding of study by learning to apply the three wisdom tools:  listening, contemplation and meditation

• Discover how study functions in combination with meditation practice

• Receive an introduction to ché gom, 'analytical meditation,' and jok gom, 'placement meditation'

FORMAT OF THIS COURSE
Students receive a DVD and a logon to the course website. Assignments are posted weekly and students are encouraged to post their homework to a class forum and discuss their insights with each other. An instructor reviews student postings, gives guidance, and is available for answering student questions. See this document for a detailed description about how the course works.

MATERIALS NEEDED

• The course DVD

• A computer that plays DVD's.  The DVD will be a DVD you must watch on your computer.  It will not play on a regular DVD player.

• The free VLC movie player which you can download from
  http://www.videolan.org

• Internet and email access